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I started out all gung-ho. I was ready to start training. I had given up on Cinch (it made me GAIN weight.. don't get me started. I created an 8 week half-marathon training schedule, and was rocking it out. On Day 7, I set a goal of doing 15 minute miles.
I think Day 7 or 8 was when I actually quit training. I started writing articles, and got busy, so training went on the back burner. Well, I guess I can't call it the back burner so much as completely left the stove – and the house. Life got in the way. Training stopped.
I knew the half-marathon was coming up in like 6 weeks, but I just couldn't. Get. Back. On. Track. 4 weeks to go, and I still did nothing. 1 week left, and I was like well shit, I haven't trained yet, so if I start now I might be too sore to finish the race! I headed to the running store and grabbed a kick-ass pair of shoes, and some running socks, and I found an awesome sports bra at Goodwill.
I was as ready as I was going to be.
I couldn't sleep the evening before the half-marathon. I was so nervous, I thought I was going to puke. After snoozing for a few hours, it was time to wake up. I had to be downtown at 6am, and was taking the Metrolink, so I woke up at 4AM. A..M.. that means in. the. freakin. morning.
Rise and shine! Up and at em! Okay, not quite, but I headed out the door.
See, the sun wasn't even up yet! Geez. What was I thinking?
Mile 3 and I was smiling. Barely. That is about when a dull ache started in my knee. I knew I could do it, 3 miles down, 10 miles to go. I've got this.
The funny signs kept us occupied for a while. My favorites were the ones that had “that's what she said” written on them. :) OH and one said “smile if you peed a little”… cracked me up! It was nice to see all of the support out there, every mile there was something new to look at.
I hit 6 miles and was still feeling alright. I think it was mile 8 when the doubt started to kick in. At this point I was very sore. My knees hurt, my back was like “what are you doing to me?!” and my mind was exhausted. I really should have worked on creating a good playlist just for the half-marathon, because the music I had was the same ol' same ol' that I had been listening to for months during workouts. Big mistake. I couldn't even listen to the music, because it just got on my nerves. So I completed the entire race without any music! It was torture.
Miles 9 and 10 were pretty much hell. I mean, I tried really hard to run – or even jog – but I couldn't. At all. My legs wouldn't move, my feet felt like they weighed 50 pounds a piece, and they just would not leave the ground. I felt as if I was almost scooting. Oh god, it was so bad!
Mile 10 is when I started to feel the blisters squish, squish, squish. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. I'll spare you the photos of what my foot looked like for the next week. I also lost a toenail. Yep, that's right… lost a toenail! I bought my shoes a 1/2 size bigger, and trimmed my toenails down, JUST so that wouldn't happen, but a few days after the race I could tell the toenail was just dead. I went to clip it and the whole thing came off! A month later and it's still not back.
At Mile 12 I had all but given up. Truth be told, if it was possible to give up at Mile 12, I would have. But it really wasn't… because how the hell do you stop walking when there's a mile left to go? You have to get back to your car, family, etc somehow! You have to walk there! So at this point I was like what the hell, I'm finishing this stupid race!!
I knew my girlfriend, mom, and kids were at the finish line. They were waiting for me, so I couldn't just give up. I couldn't quit. At mile 12 I was almost in tears because of the pain, the mental exhaustion, just everything. It was so hard. When I finished, I swore I'd never do anything like that EVER, ever again. My finish time was 3 hours 45 minutes. My goal was to finish in under 4 hours, so I barely made it!!
If I can do it, anyone can.
For me, most of the race was mental. Once the doubt set in, it was nearly impossible for me to move. The power of positive thinking is amazing, and is the ONLY thing that helped me finish. I knew it was NOT my physical ability that did it!!
Here I am a month later and I set a goal for doing a FULL marathon next year. Going through these pictures and writing this post makes me second guess that decision, but I'm going for it. I'm jealous of the 26.2 stickers! Mine only says 13.1. And to think, I'm going to torture myself like that over a damn sticker… :)
Have you ever done a half-marathon? What about a full marathon? How did it go?
**I do not recommend attempting a half-marathon without training first!!!
You have inspired me, I am buying a Jogging stroller (2 little ones 3yr and 7mth) and I am going to get back in shape and prepare for my first 5k and work up from their! :-) Noone believes me I can do it….. but I can! :-)
I did a 5k in October with my best friend and her daughter( my god-daughter). It was the Color Me Rad 5k. We had so much fun. If they come back to TN next year, we are doing it again, and my sister and nieces are going too. I had blisters after that, so I can imagine how your feet felt. Congrats on completing it and not giving up.
We did the Color Run, too! It was SO MUCH FUN! :) Congrats on doing that, a 5k is a big deal too! I remember my first 5k I would not have finished if my mom hadn’t been dragging me up the last hill! lol
I think it is great that you even attempted it. There is no way I could do it with my knees but then again i never was much into athletics. I commend you for what you did. You are AWESOME!
All last summer I walked 3 miles every day. I lost almost 20 pounds. I need to get back at it..I have put on all that weight again and then some. Proud of you for sticking it out and finishing, I can’t imagine how hard it was. I know on my walks I got terrible blisters on my toes, so I can guess what your feet looked like. Good luck on your full marathon next year, I will be cheering you on!
We knew you could do it! Congratulations, but don’t stop there!
What you accomplished is amazing. I WISH I could do a marathon, but I have chronic pain and fatigue. There is NO way I could even begin to think I could do a marathon. Good job!
I have CFS too and actually once I pushed past that plateau it’s been amaazing. I have my energy back. =)
My 13 year old is going to do her first half marathon this spring. She has been training all year and is excited. I can’t make it around the block without having to stop for air. Congratulations!
Awesome!! So proud of you!! Really wish I could do it….
Great job. I bet it was worth all the suffering once you made it to the end!
I don’t think i could do it. You were brave to even try this and you finished it! I would have been in tears. Awesome job! Can’t wait to see how you do on the full marathon!
You did awesome. So sorry for your blisters and toenail. I would love to be able to run again. My Fibromyalgia keeps me from doing alot of things I would like to do. My heart goes out to you for even doing a marathon. Good job.
wow you are awesome! I could never find the time to train , let alone have the energy to do it and run the marathon! Congrats! i love the signs that were there, those for sure kept everyone going. You are an inspiration! maybe one day I’ll be writing a post of a marathon I’ll run :)
I have never done a marathon – I can’t imagine! I’ve always considered myself in pretty good shape, but running is the one thing I just can’t do. I’m in pain just thinking about it, haha! Congrats on finishing yours!
Hey at least you made it under your goal! And you finished which is the best part! You’re in much better shape than I am, I just WALKED a 3 mile race, and thought I was going to keel over half way through! So, congrats to you on finishing that!
I can’t wait to read about how you conquer the 26.2! Best wishes!!
I wish I had your strength to go through one of these. Great job.
You are awesome! Congrats on finishing the race ~ my hat’s off to you! I don’t think I could do it. Good luck with the WHOLE mile ~ you can do it!!!
I think it’s totally awesome what you did! You should be extremely proud of yourself. I could never imagine doing it, but then again, being a smoker, I probably wouldn’t make it a mile. Congratulations to you and best wishes for your next marathon!
That is so amazing!!! Congrats!!!
You are so darned cute! I’m really proud of you. I am the world’s lousiest runner, so no half marathons for me just yet!
thats so cool wish I could do it
Congratulations on finishing a half marathon! I haven’t done mine yet. I am training though and I run 3-5x a week. I’m up to 10.2 miles with no walk breaks on saturdays, so I’m almost there.
Have not would not and could not! LOL GO SADIE!
Run, Forrest, Run :)
Congratulations!!!! You should be very proud of yourself.
Congrats for making it!!
I’ve never walked or ran in a marathon. I live in a rural area and there are not many marathons here (The ones I know of are 1.5+ hours away). I did walk in Relay for Life 2 years ago. I walked more than 12 miles starting at 1am. It was crazy. Congratulations on such a great accomplishment. Good Luck on the full marathon next year =)
Great job! My husband signed up to run his first half marathon in April. I could never do it though.
Ha-I fell down on my training as well. In about to do my half on Sunday but having done several before I know what I’m in for and know that my 9mi I did two weeks ago (half walking) was just enough to remind me of my own impending “death”. Thanks for the story.
I found your article quite humorous. One of my coworkers talked me into running a half marathon. Up until now, I was only a 10k runner. At the 10k point, I was about 20 min slower than my normal pace, which seemed perfectly fine to me. Prior to that, I had stopped at every water station along the way. Then at mile 8, I had severe calf cramps. I was able to walk off the right one, but the left one was so bad, I had to get help from one of the spectators. I ended up walking the last 5 miles frustrated, but in the end when I received my finisher’s medal, everything was okay. Also, the hundreds of people cheering me along the way as I limped across the finish line made for a bittersweet ending.
I am so grateful I stumbled upon this blog post. I have been training (not as hard as I could, but I wouldn’t say I’m doing NOTHING) and as race day gets closer, I’m starting to heavily doubt that I’ll finish in the 4 hours allotted. I was feeling good initially, but now I’m worried. I’m about 250 lbs and 5’6″ and have attempted to run, but shin splints, self-doubt, asthma, pain and other things have convinced me I’ll likely be walking the entire 13.1 miles. I hope I can do it. This made me feel a little better about things. I’ll just keep trudging forward!
I have to say THANK YOU for posting this! I am scheduled to run my first half next Sunday. The Marine Corps Half Marathon! 6 miles is my farthest so far. I’m so scared I think I’m subconsciously self sabotaging by not running. I AM going to do this. I just have not trained nearly as much as I should have. I am in no way a seasoned runner. I’m sure I’ll have many walking miles, but I will finish. Thank you for your humor and insight. And good luck on your marathon and getting that sticker!
Thank you so much! As the new 1/2 Rock N Roll comes up this Saturday. Training got behind me and now I have no training…but I refuse to back out. I’m actually terrified of doing it. My friends all say if you don’t train you can’t do it. I have a goal to finish in less then 4 hours! This post was a god send! Any more advice?
So glad I ran across this article! I had heart surgery in 2016 and was put on oxygen…at night only. I heeded the warning and decided to take my life back! I have since lost 75 pounds, and my best friend and I (both 62 years old) walk 3.5 miles, 5 days a week. We recently did a couple of 5K’s and decided we will do the OKC 1/2 Marathon this coming year (2018). I am much, much more healthy and fit! Best news…the dr feels certain I no longer need the oxygen (sleep test tonight to be certain). Love your sense of humor and determination! I feel certain we can do it too!!!
Tamie, I’m so proud of you!! You’re going to do an amazing job! You have plenty of time to train, too! Woo hoo!